ADAPT Membership/Fundraiser Drive Begins

I want to thank everyone for their patience and those who helped put the organization together. We are now an officially registered non-profit trade organization. We wanted to allow flexibility on how you can help the organization. Anyone or any organization or any company anywhere in the world can donate or join ADAPT as long as you have an interest in improving the conditions of the VFX industry. Most importantly, donors and members will be strictly confidential to the public. We will not disclose who our supporters are.

You can become a member of ADAPT where you can enroll in recurring monthly or yearly memberships that automatically deduct funding from the submitted account.

For almost the last four years I’ve written this blog in the hopes of influencing action in the VFX industry. This has been the culmination of that work and I hope you’ll join me. There are a lot of problems in the industry and ADAPT hopes to become a stakeholder in solving those problems. We look at the anti-subsidy duty effort as the tip of the spear to help become a catalyst for change.

It is time for actionable solutions and it’s looking like we are one of the only groups taking direct action. If we get enough supporters we can move forward.

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22 Responses to ADAPT Membership/Fundraiser Drive Begins

Subscriber #10. Very cool. Thank you for everything VFXSoldier. It would be great to get direct, frequent updates from the law firm on everything they’re doing. Is there a newsletter than they can put us on?

I think what Daniel is doing is amazing and I have the up most respect for him and his effort at ADAPT. It has been an amazing journey that we all have traveled to get to this point. I think that we should take some times and ponder of what really has happened, and the challenges that we still face in the vary near future. The Fact is that VFX industry will not change all that much with the passing of an anti subsidies provision in our government. It will level out the playing field somewhat, but make no mistake We will be working for companies such as ILM, Pixar, Disney, Sony, Dreamworks that could care less about your working conditions these major players are run by business professionals and are willing to do anything to record a 10 – 15 % profit on a picture <> Lets look at our good friends at Weta, well they have a lot of work. Here is a wake up call to us all, VFX artist at Weta still work 60-90 hours a week and they will after ADAPT passes in the US and so will you if you plan to only work as VFX artist in LA. I can grantee that wages will be near 50% less then they were from the 2007 time frame. VFX companies and the market is a global performance driven market, and it is run by people that have as much sympathy for you as the Fast Food Market. If you have come to terms with that reality I understand but I think ADAPT should stand for adapting our talents and working for other industries that offer Healthcare, Retirement 401k Matching and paid vacation oh and 40 hour work weeks WOW. Remember it is not in Paramount Disney WB or FOX best interest to pay more for VFX work Period and they are our lovable clients after all.

I beg to differ based on the dramatic shift that occurred as a direct result of subsidies. Will an equally dramatic shift suddenly reverse that trend completely? Probably not. But to suggest not much will happen is just silly. A lot of houses are not currently willing to even consider anyone unless they are willing to relocate to a subsidized location. Great talent is ignored for higher rates for lesser talent simply for subsidies. And everyone knows their current employment is subject to the political whims of the next government willing to pony up more dough. With measures like the CVD there is far less reason for any of this. At least these people would again be considered and the likelihood of suddenly being told to move it or lose it would be greatly reduced.

1. Anywhere there is vfx, especially if subsidies are stopped, can unionize. The rest of the live action film crew, including director and writer, that’s doing the shooting? They get pensions, they get healthcare, they get residuals in one form or another, they get vacation pay. (i.e all you’re asking for)

2. VFX workers could come together and agree on a real Code of Conduct for vfx companies. Nothing stopping it happen except no volunteers to help hammer it out. If global workers agreed on a few issues which most already do, then things could be pushed forward. Do we really have to work 80+ hours a week? No.

3. if ADAPT is successful they’ll be in a position to push for other changes if that’s what the vfx community want. The VES is restricted by their charter and the vfx companies are unwilling to form a trade association. ADAPT is now the only group committed to try to fix the core vfx issues.

I’ve been waiting for this with such great anticipation. Thank you for all that you have done, now it’s our turn. I will be signing up and donating right away. Come on everyone this is our chance to make real and positive changes to the VFX industry, and to our own future as VFX artists.

We can’t disclose the costs but work has been going on. Its an ongoing engagement that we pay as we go. We hope this will take 6 months to build the case. Once the case is submitted intense work is done to prosecute the case. The court must arrive at t decision within 12-18 months.

From that my guesstimate is we believe if everyone who supports us is willing to enroll in a monthly or yearly membership for that duration we should be able to hit our numbers. We’ll have to see. If support isn’t there then we may have to end the campaign. We’re working on trying to get the state to throw in support. We’ve got their verbal and written support but need a push in the financial direction.

Also if they find in our favor the duty is mandatory and retrospective: All productions receiving the subsidies in question at the beginning of the case will be subject to the duty if we win.